LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Fire officials called it the Katrina factor.
In past wildfires, some people have taken to their roofs with garden hoses to protect their homes, ignoring warnings to evacuate or waiting until the last minute to leave.
Not this time.
Many residents of neighborhoods threatened Thursday by a raging wildfire in the San Fernando Valley responded quickly to evacuation orders, said Capt. Mark Savage of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
''That's probably because of past hurricane experience,'' he said.
Evacuee Heidi Dvorak was amazed at how people reacted.
''People acted differently this time,'' she said, comparing the response to a wildfire in the same area a year ago.
She believes the hurricane also affected authorities.
''The response by the Fire Department and the Police Department this time was overwhelming,'' Dvorak said. ''That's the impact of the hurricanes.''
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said fire and police response was no different from past efforts. However, he agreed that residents reacted to hurricane horror stories.
''I do believe the public _ in the aftermath of the hurricanes _ took the evacuation order seriously,'' he said.
Ventura County Supervisor Judy Michaels urged people to follow evacuation commands.
''The biggest deterrent to saving lives and saving property is people who refuse,'' she said. ''It ties up our law enforcement personnel, ties up our professional firefighting personnel and it is not good for anyone.''
Richard Smiley, 57, was one the people who refused to leave his home, even after police urged residents in his neighborhood to leave. He spent much of the night soaking down his roof with a hose as flames came within a half-mile of his small home.
''I think they got a little extreme due to Katrina,'' he said of authorities. ''We knew what we had to do.''
Still, Smiley packed his truck and said he would have left if the flames had gotten 500 yards from his home.
''Last night, the flames of hell were all across the hills,'' he said. ''It was pretty scary.''
